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Maternity Leave and Redundancy Questions

5 replies

herbgarden · 12/07/2009 21:19

I worked in a job sharing role part time until I went off on maternity leave in December. I am due to go back in 3 weeks.

There are two jobs at my level at work.

One is the role which I share with my job share partner (so taken together it is a full time role IYSWIM) and the other is done by just one person full time.

We have been told that there is a chance that someone will be made redundant. If I was to be made redundant whilst on maternity leave how would any pay be calculated?

  1. We do not have contractual maternity pay only statutory. Is my redundancy pay based on my pre-maternity pay level pro-rated for the part time role ?


  1. What happens about holiday? I am due about another 8/9 days holiday for the year?


  1. I was going to go back to work when my daughter was 34 weeks old. As I am entitled to SMP for longer than that but am choosing to go back to assist my job share partner (who's "covered" me during mat leave) can I continue to claim SMP for the full 39 weeks which I could have if they make me redundant before that 39 weeks is up?


  1. Contractually I have to give 3 months notice to leave my job. Do they have to pay me for the notice period ? Is this on top of any redundancy pay?


Many thanks
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abcmum · 12/07/2009 22:02
  1. Yes, based on your contractual salary prior to Mat leave.

    2)You should be paid for any outstanding holiday.

    3)You will entitled to all SMP - full 39 weeks if you are made redundant prior to this. If you return to work, obviously your SMP will stop. However, with less than 3 weeks before you have given notice to return, it is not likely that the redundancy will take place before you return. Have you been given official notice that your role is at risk, or started a consultation period?

  2. Yes, you will be entitled to 3 months notice, which is taxable.

    Good Luck x
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flowerybeanbag · 13/07/2009 07:35

If you've just been told there is a chance someone will be made redundant - ie they're not even sure yet let alone starting to sort out selection criteria or anything, it seems unlikely it will take place while you are on maternity leave if you are due back in 3 weeks, so SMP is unlikely to be an issue as you will not be still receiving it when you are made redundant if that happens.

You will get any outstanding holiday but your employer may require you to take this during your notice period, unless they are going to pay you in lieu of notice.

Check your contract to see about what notice period your employer is required to give you - it is usually the same as you are required to give them, yes, so they would need to pay you 3 months pay on top of any redundancy pay you might be owed. Whether it is taxable again depends on your contract. If they decide to pay you in lieu of notice rather than either making you work your notice period or keeping you employed and putting you on garden leave, then it will be taxable if your contract says your employer can do this.

If your contract doesn't say your employer can pay in lieu of notice but they choose to do so anyway, then it is likely to be tax-free.

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herbgarden · 13/07/2009 09:34

Thank you so much for your help. I was wondering whether to "officially" go back so that they can't shaft me re paying the amounts at SMP rather than pre-mat but then I wondered how long the process actually took and figured that it probably won't happen within 3 weeks so I may as well enjoy the last 3 weeks and set up my Plan B option and do some financial planning if the worst case scenario occurs.

It has all been left in the air which is very helpful (they are lawyers too - typical) - I should know more about this but it's not my area !.

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RibenaBerry · 14/07/2009 11:35

Herbgarden,

I suspect that your employers are intentionally waiting until you return to start the redundancy process. As you may have seen on this board, there are complicated legal questions about making a woman on maternity leave redundant. If someone is right at the end of maternity leave, it is far cleaner to wait until they come back.

In terms of selection, I would expect that, if they're going down to one full time role, it would effectively be either the current full time person or you and your job share made redundant. However, they may be looking at something less drastic like 1.5 roles (in which case the full time person would be just as at risk of being asked to step down to part time as one of you being made redundant).

Your statutory redundancy pay and notice pay will not be based on SMP if you are back at work. Assuming you have a three month notice period, there could be a potential wrinkle if you were asked to work your notice period and were on maternity leave throughout, but it's a bit complicated so I won't go into that here.

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herbgarden · 14/07/2009 16:23

I wondered that too although when pressed my boss said that it would hopefully be within the next 10 days. They have said that the situation prior to my leave will remain until they inform us otherwis. We will see but I am anticipating my first month back being an interesting one ! In a way I'd rather not start my DD at nursery if in a months time I won't be there. I do keep assuming it'll be me although I did also wonder whether they might make all three roles (ie the 2 part time and one full time) part time in order to keep us all there but have to pay the 1.5 role salary. My share has been doing reduced hours over more days whilst I've been away and I think they were hoping she might carry on. She has adamantly said she won't (she ends up doing more like 4 whole days for half the money of a full time salary) so isn't prepared to be taken for granted any longer than she's had to. She's been a great support though whilst I've been away so I don't blame her !!

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